Gluten Free Ratio Rally: Chocolate Chip Mocha Quick Bread

It’s on again! The Gluten Free Ratio Rally – baking gluten-free using ratios…. and it SO works! The inaugural rally posts were focused on pancakes.

This time around we are tackling quick breads or muffins. Both of which are basically the same recipe, just different baking times. Personally, I’m a fan of the loaf method. Saves time, ya know. And, it’s easily transported to work and left in the main office for others to taste test, share and enjoy as well. The muffins are great – when I have the time to make them, I do. Lately, however, I’m noticing that I’m forgetting to set the timer or some other meaningful-yet-missed-due-to-sleep-deprivation task while the evening hours are upon us.

Working full-time means baking time comes in the evening and only if I’m lucky. These last couple of weeks, I’ve fallen back on to some standards/fail-safes that are quick to whip up (lavash bread, brazilian cheese bread,, cookies (!),) and best of all: QUICK BREADS! Without time to have a loaf rising, it’s perfect to get a quick loaf of bread in. Depending on your mood, you can make a million varieties. Really. I’ve been reading just the TITLES of the quick breads that the other GF Rally bloggers are creating and my head is spinning with ideas and my taste buds are completely craving a buffet-table of GF breads and muffins. (OH MY – wouldn’t that be heaven??)

There were a dozen of us who blogged about pancakes – and baking GF with a ratio of ingredients. Spin back a bit to Ruhlman’s book about “Ratio“, initial conversations about ratios with gluten free baking, and a rally was born. That book is really much more of a reference point. As for GF ratios, the only hurdles/variables are the starch – to – flour ratio to make up the flour called for within any given ratio.

The Gluten Free Flour : Starch Ratio

And let’s be honest: we are SO lucky! In reality, there are so many flours for us to choose from: sorghum, millet, brown (or white) rice, teff, buckwheat, corn (flour not starch), almond, hazelnut, coconut, amaranth…. and THOSE are just the ones I like. Surely I am missing some of the ones you enjoy?

For most of my baking (anything non-yeast bread), I rely on a ratio of 65-70% flour to 30-35% starch. Any greater percentage of starches and the breads/baked goods tend to be too pasty/chalky to me. And that isn’t even talking about the lack of positive nutritional contributions to the baked good. I choose the best, whole grain flours I can (typically millet, sorghum and finely ground brown rice) with the starch that will best impart the texture I’m looking for (tapioca = slightly sweet with a little chew; potato starch makes things more moist, but also more dense; cornstarch creates a lighter texture, but with a chalky aftertaste, etc). I really like using tapioca starch (also called tapioca starch flour) because it’s cheap too – and easier to find in large quantities at local Asian markets. (That’s a definite bonus!)

Baking by Weight/Ratio

While I’ve had my kitchen scale for several years, I really only used it for two reasons: (1) complete curiosity about weights in regards to different flours and serving portions, etc and (2) to bake something from Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Italy, etc that was written in grams, rather than cups.

Since the get-go, I’ve been surprised at the wide-variance of weights. Now, don’t get me wrong – I KNEW the flours were different densities, etc, but I was definitely surprised that the measurements were off by SIGNIFICANT grams. It makes a difference when baking. It is helpful to have the weights.

But since we are a cups-and-ounces crew/country, I’m posting my recipe both ways. Sometimes, as in without a scale on hand or while baking the same way our mamas did, we reach of the measuring cups. However, if you have the inclination, I would suggest that if you really are a GF household/baker, you should consider a kitchen scale. You will have a whole world of recipes (literally..the rest of the world!) open up to you in grams. And you can play around with your scale measuring out random foods just to befriend that scale and really see its value for you. (FYI: This is the one we have.)

But until you are ready to make the leap, keep baking. And check out these other Ratio Rally Bloggers and their Gluten Free Quick Bread/Muffin recipe. Once you see the tons of varieties that I have been eyeing lately, you will truly be considering a scale. The variety and ratio works because of the scaling.

lovely looking loaf! wouldn’ this be wonderful with a cup of coffee? We are lucky – I love experimenting with all of the lovely whole grain flours. I used to use a GF flour mix – but now I just mix it up on the fly – always something interesting. I just noticed your Peanut Butter / Oatmeal / Choc chip recipe – even though its nearly 1:00 in the morning – I may go bake up a batch this minute. Nice to be connecting with you and your site via the ratio rally.

I am soo glad we found this recipe. my daughter just went gluten free about 2months ago and she has been sooo frustrated with it. Her favorite breakfast muffins are cappuccino muffins (muffins made with coffee, cinnamonand chocolate chips) and this looks like a good substitute. I am going to add some cinnamon and use milk chocokate chips and see if this makes her happy! its hard for kids to suddenly have to switch to gf and I am so thankful for your blog and all of the other bloggers out there who share so much info for us newbies. It sure does make the transition easier!

[…] the time and have them with a cup of hot cocoa in the cooler months. I was so glad when I found the Chocolate Chip Mocha Quick Bread recipe over at Gluten Free Gobsmacked as I was able to easily convert it into our favorite muffins […]